Not Without My Daughter

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There was not a single thing in the book that I could point my finger at and say: this can’t be true. I read this a long time ago so that's the only example I can remember off hand but I think it's important that we evaluate each piece of a society on its own merits and not just vilify the entire thing simply because we don't like part of it.

He informed them that, since Betty had an American passport, she needed to turn in her passport to the airport officials three days before her departure. My memory is now a bit jaded, but I’m quite sure that the book is far better and can do more justice, as is usually the case.That being said, last weekend I got an itch to arm chair travel to the Middle East, but couldn’t for the life of me find my copy of The Kite Runner, a book I’ve been avoiding since its publication.

Betty Mahmoody (born June 9, 1945, in Alma, Michigan) is an American author and public speaker best known for her book, Not Without My Daughter, which was also made into a film. I’ll begin by stating for the record that watching the movie is insufficient for getting a clear picture of what life was like for Betty Mahmoody and her child during their 18-month imprisonment in Iran. The book details her 500 mi (800 km) escape to Turkey through the snowy Iranian mountains, and the help she received from many Iranians. Betty's account, on the other hand, provides details left out in the movie, such as Betty had two sons from a previous marriage and how she didn't see the signals of Moody's temperament change when they lived in the United States. It's troubling that in this day and age, women are treated with such disdain - and other women support it!

According to the book, she and her husband, Sayed Bozorg Mahmoody, and daughter, Mahtob, traveled to Iran in August 1984 for what her husband said would to be a two-week visit with his family in Tehran. The family gave Betty a montoe and a roosarie (traditional female clothes in Iran) and instructed her to wear them whenever she went outside their home. What I have said in another review about Mahtob's book is that she focuses very little on the actual stay and journey out of Tehran after being held captive by her father and it read more like a documented therapeutic account that I'm sure she remains traumatized to this day, even though her father died years ago. I’m not saying there were happy times or good times she skipped, but condensing the bad parts down and putting a hateful voice behind it is going to end in a very dark book with a strong bias.

After all, by all accounts, Said Mahmoody was clear, on multiple occasions, that he would find and kill her when or if she tried to escape, but not before he ensured that his daughter would be raised in a misogynistic war zone wherein she would be subject to abuse and compelled to renounce her faith, her way of life, and her place of birth. A couple days later, Judy invited Betty to a party where she could talk to Judy's friend Rasheed about finding a way to escape the country. Overall, the book was compelling, but I didn’t find the writing very good and a lot of things seemed to be retrospective rather than current which was frustrating. On a final note: I don't know why this is, but most who have read Not Without My Daughter are unaware that it has a sequel: For the Love of a Child.I wish that I'd written this review the many years ago when I read this book, but even though time has muted the details, my memory of this book's effect is still vivid. I am really looking forward to the discussion on this one with my friend and while I enjoyed the read I did find this one was a little long but this might be more the fact that it was a re-read. She made many friends, and even among her in-laws there were those who were sympathetic to her plight. Mahmoodi’s account raises some interesting questions, the first of which is, does she perpetuate harmful notions about and images of Islamic faith and culture? Her book, Not Without My Daughter, is an account of her experiences in 1984–86, when she left Alpena, Michigan to go to Iran with her husband and daughter for what she was promised would be a short visit.